The Abbot

First Edition, First Impression:

The Abbot. By the Author of "Waverley".
In Three Volumes. Vol. I (II-III). Edinburgh: Printed for Longman,
Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, London; And for Archibald Constable
and Co. And John Ballantyne, Edinburgh, 1820.

Composition

Along amongst the Waverley Novels, The Abbot was explicitly
presented as the sequel to an earlier volume. The Introductory
Epistle to the First Edition informs the reader that the narrative
is the continuation of the Benedictine manuscript from which Scott
purported
to have
drawn his preceding novel The Monastery which
had dealt with the early years of the Reformation in Scotland.
A decade later, in his introduction to the Magnum Opus edition
of The Abbot (1831), Scott hinted that the decision to
set a second novel in Reformation Scotland stemmed precisely from
the
relative
failure, critical
and commercial, of The Monastery. Fleshing out Scott's
suggestion, his twentieth-century biographers Sir Herbert Grierson
and Edgar Johnson (see Bibliography)
portray an unbowed Scott making a second effort to conquer resistant
subject-matter. Christopher Johnson, editor of the recent Edinburgh
Edition of The Abbot (2000), calls this account into question.
He notes that the contract for a sequel was signed before the completion
of The Monastery and finds evidence that Scott was considering
a novel depicting the imprisonment of Mary Queen of Scots at Lochleven
Castle as early as summer 1817.

Scott's surviving correspondence suggests that he originally intended
to deal with the dissolution of the monasteries and the imprisonment
and escape of Queen Mary in the same novel. Scott did some preliminary
work on The Monastery in August 1819 but only after the
completion of Ivanhoe in the
first week of November did he turn his full attention to the novel.
As early as 8 November, however, he wrote to John
Ballantyne to announce that The Monastery would run
to four volumes or ('which is much better') be published in two
parts comprised of three volumes each. Ballantyne subsequently
proposed a sequel to the publisher Longmans in late December 1819,
and the offer was promptly accepted. Scott's eagerness to publish
the novel in two parts most likely stemmed from financial rather
than aesthetic considerations. He stood in need of ready cash to
meet expenses arising from his son's receipt of a military commission
and from recent extensions to the Abbotsford estate.
A second publisher's advance, duly received in January 1820, would
provide a much-needed injection of capital. Throughout the negotiations
for the sequel, the novel is referred to solely as the second 'part',
'branch', or 'class' of The Monastery. Only on 29 March
do Constable's records first refer to The Abbot by its
eventual title.

Relatively little is known about the composition process of The
Abbot, the surviving manuscript of which is incomplete.
When The Monastery was published in March 1820, it seems
likely that Scott did not immediately set to work on the sequel.
According to a letter to Lady Abercorn, only half of the first
volume was complete by 1 June. The intervening weeks had been
hectic. Scott had travelled to London in March to receive his
baronetcy, and had married his daughter Sophia to his future
biographer John Gibson Lockhart on 29 April. The enforced break
from writing had permitted Scott to gauge the largely negative
public reaction to The Monastery and to re-organize
his material so as to render The Abbot an autonomous
narrative. In particular, he chose to abandon the White Lady,
guardian spirit of the House of Avenel, who had displeased critics
and readers alike. In the summer, Scott made rapid progress on
the novel. The first two volumes were complete by 8 July, and
the novel was advertised as due to be published in August. An
overlong third volume occasioned a slight delay, and The
Abbot finally appeared in Edinburgh on 2 September and in
London on 4 September. As with The Monastery, publication
was managed by Longmans of London, with Scott's usual publisher
Constable temporarily relegated to the role of co-publisher.

Sources

The novel takes place between July 1567 and May 1568, spanning
the imprisonment of Mary Queen of Scots at Lochleven, her enforced
abdication, her escape from the Castle, defeat at Langside and
subsequent flight to England. The events covered in the novel seal
the triumph of the Protestant, pro-English party in England and
ultimately pave the way to the Union of the English and Scottish
Crowns under a Protestant monarch. Scott drew on the large collection
of printed works relating to Mary that he had gathered at Abbotsford.
Besides polemicists like the Protestants George Buchanan and John
Knox and the Catholic John Leslie, Scott made use of eighteenth-century
collections of original source material such as Samuel Jebb's De
Vita & Rebus Gestis Serenissimae Principis Mariae Scotorum
Reginae and Robert Keith's The History of the Affairs
of the Church and State in Scotland. Scott also acknowledges
his debt to George Chalmers's more recent Life of Mary, Queen
of Scots, the publication of which in 1818 may have helped
fix his interest on Mary's reign.Scott's hero, Roland
Graeme, is a fictional character, but his theft of the keys of
Lochleven Castle and liberation of the Queen are based on the actions
of Willie Douglas, an orphan belonging to the Lochleven household,
who remained a loyal servant of Mary until her death.

Synopsis

The orphaned hero, Roland Graeme, is brought up as a page by Lady
Mary Avenel, heroine of The Monastery and now wife to
Sir Halbert Glendinning. Although considered a penniless bastard,
Roland becomes a favourite with his childless mistress until his
impetuous character leads to his dismissal. Assisted by Sir Halbert,
Roland enters the service of the Earl of Murray who, following
the enforced abdication of Mary Queen of Scots, governs Scotland
as Regent on behalf of the infant James VI. Murray appoints him
as a page to the imprisoned Queen Mary and sends him to Lochleven
Castle with instructions to act as a spy. However, Roland's sense
of honour, his loyalty to Mary (instilled by his Catholic grandmother,
Madgalen Graeme), and his love for Catherine Seyton, one of Mary
Stuart's attendants, prevent him from acting out this role. In
the end, Roland becomes instrumental in the queen's escape, remaining
with her until she leaves Scotland. In this, he is assisted by
the Abbot of Kennaquhair, Father Ambrosius (formerly Edward Glendinning),
from whom the novel takes its title. Shortly before Mary's defeat
at Langside, Roland discovers his true identity. He is not, as
he thought, the illegitimate child of Catherine Graeme but the
product of a legitimate marriage between Catherine and Julian Avenel,
and thus heir to his benefactress's estates. Roland is pardoned
by the Regent and marries Catherine Seyton.

Reception

With the publication of The Abbot, Scott regained the reputation
he had established with Ivanhoe. The success of The Abbot was
proof to him that the sixteenth century provided fertile ground
for historical fiction and he would return to the period with his
next novel Kenilworth. Lochleven
Castle became a favourite destination for sightseers and the success
of The Abbot prompted a revival of interest in (and partial reappraisal
of) The Monastery. Reviews were largely favourable, with Blackwood's,
the Literary Gazette, and the Quarterly Review being
particularly enthusiastic. The Quarterly singled out Scott's
skill in interweaving the loves of Catherine and Roland and the
fate of Queen Mary: 'Never was a double plot better connected.'
Reservations were expressed by the Edinburgh Review and Edinburgh
Magazine. The former, while admiring the passages relating
to Mary's escape and the battle of Langside, did not approve of
the title of the novel, arguing that the Abbot played only a minor
part, and described Catherine Seyton as a 'wilful deterioration
of Diana Vernon'. The latter protested against the levity of Queen
Mary and the coarseness of her language, arguing that both were
unhistorical.